Exercise can increase your tolerance to pain

Paul Kochoa, PT, DPT, OCS, CKTP, CGFI

How about a dose of exercise-induced hypoalgesia?  It’s a fancy term.  Basically it means that during exercise, the body releases opiates, endorphins, and other substances that dull pain.  But did you also know that moderate amounts of exercise can increase your tolerance to pain?

A study in the Medical Science in Sports and Exercise Journal, conducted in Australia studied the effect of moderate amounts of stationary cycling on pain response.  They took two dozen healthy, young adults and split them into two groups.  One rode a bike for 30 minutes, three times a week; and the other group didn’t do any exercise.  They measured their response to noxious stimuli applied to their arms.  They measured their perceived level of pain, and increase the painful stimuli until the subjects couldn’t take any more pain.

After six weeks, the exercise group showed some changes.  Their perceived levels of pain didn’t change but their tolerance increased to higher intensities of pain.  That means that the painful stimulus was still perceived to be painful, but the subjects did not find the pain as threatening, even though it still hurt the same.  Those subjects who improved their physical fitness the most also showed the greatest increase in their tolerance to pain.

Even though the exercise was a leg exercise, the noxious stimuli was applied to the subjects’ arms.  So this means that the exercise-induced hypoalgesia was not just limited to the exercising body parts, but to the whole body, signifying a more central change in pain response, perhaps in the brain and central nervous system.

I’ve said this many times to my patients.  If you have pain, the exercises we do in physical therapy should make a change.  For patients with chronic pain, this means that exercise will increase their ability to perform any activity of daily living with a decrease in their perception of pain.  Like I’ve written before, exercise is a central component to physical therapy treatment.  We can make a change with our manual techniques and exercise.  It’s just the ability of the patient to get on board with our plan and be proactive in their recovery process that determines the amount of success with their rehab outcomes.  Don’t give up.

If you would like more information, please call Professional Physical Therapy and Training at 973-270-7417.  Our offices are located within the YMCA locations in Madison and Summit, NJ.  You do not need to be a member of the YMCA to visit with us.